Cognex Corporation has hired Robert Willett as president of its Modular Vision Systems Division (MVSD). Mr. Willett will report to Cognex chairman and CEO Robert Shillman. As president of MVSD, Mr. Willett will oversee the largest operating division at Cognex, which generates nearly 90% of the company’s annual revenue. The Modular Vision Systems Division designs, develops and manufactures vision systems, sensors and ID readers that are used to automate the manufacture of a range of discrete products and assure their quality.

Mr. Willett comes to Cognex from Danaher Corp­oration), a diversified manufacturer of industrial controls and technologies with annual revenues of more than $10 billion. At Dan­aher, Mr. Willett served as group vice president of business development and innovation for the Product Identification business group. Prior to that, Mr. Willett was president of Videojet Technologies, a large subsidiary of Danaher and a market leader in coding and marking products. Mr. Willett joined Danaher after serving as CEO of Willett International Ltd., a global coding and marking company that he sold to Danaher in 2003, and which was merged into Videojet.